Learn to play “Pet” by A Perfect Circle with Billy Howerdel

Learn how to play Pet by A Perfect Circle with guitarist, songwriter, and founding member Billy Howerdel.

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▶ Watch the full episode of Riff Lords with Billy Howerdel HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64IzbxVpV2E

Ever wondered how to play Pet by A Perfect Circle correctly? In this exclusive clip from Riff Lords, Billy Howerdel breaks down the crushing guitar parts behind one of the standout and live-favorite tracks from A Perfect Circle’s second album, Thirteenth Step—including that iconic high, shrill opening riff that many of us tried to learn when the album came out.

Billy starts by stripping away the volume and effects to reveal exactly what’s happening underneath the noise. Using his C-sharp-tuned guitar, he breaks down the opening shapes note by note, explaining how the part moves between closely voiced notes across the G, B, and high E strings.

He also explains how that tense, abrasive opening riff became the song’s genesis. Billy describes the notes as almost “fluttering” against each other, creating the tension that helped inform everything that followed—with plenty of volume and feedback added, that simple idea becomes the gnarly, aggressive sound heard on the record.

Learn how to play each riff, including how to flick between the high, ethereal parts and back again, like, as Billy describes it, a pendulum.

In this Pet guitar lesson, Billy slows the part down and explains the sliding technique used throughout, including slides without picking, holding multiple notes together, and keeping the strings from bending out of tune as the shapes move around the neck.

Finally, Billy turns the effects and volume back up to demonstrate the riff as it’s meant to be heard. He also talks about using the bridge and neck pickups, explaining that rolling off the tone on the neck pickup changes the sound’s character and shares a little trick about how the recorded version blended both pickup tones.

If you’re an A Perfect Circle fan, a Billy Howerdel fan, or you’ve been trying to work out how that unmistakable Pet intro is actually played, this is the definitive guitar lesson from the person who wrote it.


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▶ Watch the full episode of Riff Lords with Billy Howerdel HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64IzbxVpV2E

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